'The stars may be aligning for the retail investor,' strategist says

Improving market conditions could soon encourage reluctant retail investors to come out of the woodwork and invest, strategist David Lebovitz told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday.

"I think when you hear more pro-growth policies out of Washington, when you hear people talk about corporate tax reform, and then on the side, you see companies generating earnings again on their own, I think that that paints a pretty optimistic picture," Lebovitz said.

An uptick in wage growth could also usher some dubious investors toward the market and persuade them to deploy a bit of capital into retail, Lebovitz added.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the stars may be aligning for the retail investor," said Lebovitz, a global market strategist with JPMorgan Asset Management.

Stocks in the retail sector have been under pressure since news broke that the Trump administration was considering adding a "border-adjusted tax" to its tax reform.

The controversial reform would impose an across-the-board tax on imports. Department stores, whose products are mostly imported, could be the hardest hit.

"I'm not sure that we can necessarily put a finger on exactly when that retail money is going to come back in," Lebovitz admitted, adding that parts of the older population are unlikely to break back into the market.

"People who were 55 to 60 during the financial crisis probably aren't going to get reinvested in equities," he said.